CHAPTER XXX 



THE FINAL SPURT BEGUN 



AT this time it may be appropriate to say a 

 word regarding my reasons for selecting 

 Henson as my fellow traveler to the Pole 

 itself. In this selection I acted exactly as I have done 

 on all my expeditions for the last fifteen years. He 

 has in those years always been with me at my point 

 farthest north. Moreover, Henson was the best man 

 I had with me for this kind of work, with the excep- 

 tion of the Eskimos, who, with their racial inheritance 

 of ice technic and their ability to handle sledges and 

 dogs, were more necessary to me, as members of my own 

 individual party, than any white man could have been. 

 Of course they could not lead, but they could follow 

 and drive dogs better than any white man. 



Henson, with his years of arctic experience, was 

 almost as skilful at this work as an Eskimo. He 

 could handle dogs and sledges. He was a part of the 

 traveling machine. Had I taken another member of 

 the expedition also, he would have been a passenger, 

 necessitating the carrying of extra rations and other 

 impedimenta. It would have amounted to an addi- 

 tional load on the sledges, while the taking of Henson 

 was in the interest of economy of weight. 



The second reason was that while Henson was more 

 useful to me than any other member of my expedition 



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